A storage rack of the type noted above is useful for storing pallets. Typically, the storage rack has a rigid framework of upright columns and other members, which define multiple tiers and multiple bays on each tier. Each bay has two similar beams, namely a front beam and a back beam, which are designed to support a load, such as a pallet. Each bay may have one or more crossbars extending between the front and back beams. The crossbars are used to prevent misplaced or undersized pallets from falling between the front and back beams, to support broken pallets, and to support other loads, such as boxes.
Commonly, each beam is cold-rolled from a steel strip into a tubular shape, which is welded along a continuous seam. The welded shape is reshaped so as to have a recess defined by a generally vertical wall and by a generally horizontal ledge extending from a lower edge of the generally vertical wall. If such beam is used as a front beam, such wall faces backwardly, and such ledge extends backwardly. If such beam is used as a back beam, such wall faces frontwardly, and such ledge extends frontwardly.
The crossbars have end portions adapted to be firmly seated in the recesses of the front and back beams. The crossbars may be further mounted by flanges formed on the crossbars, fitted over upper portions of the beams, and secured by separate fasteners or by tabs formed on the crossbars and snapped into slots in the generally horizontal ledges. One disadvantage of such flanges is a need for separate fasteners to secure the crossbars against lateral movement along the beams. One disadvantage of such tabs and such slots, particularly but not exclusively for storage racks used in facilities for storing foods, is that food debris or other debris tends to enter the beams via such slots and cannot be easily removed from the beams.